Top Speed

[Deki]

Originally Posted by MrDew

i know, i looked at the 200mph mark that was stated so proudly by the guys in oval blue...

lol I'd be scared to do 155 in my Mustang, let alone 200. It really doesn't look like they did a whole lot of aerodynamic enhancements to the car when you compare it to other vehicles capable of 200+ mph. Don't get me wrong, it's exciting to have any pony car hit those speeds, but I really question how stable it will be. I hope Ford doesn't eat their words and come out with a production GT500 that doesn't hit that speed. They kinda set the bar for themselves with the 650/600/200 announcement.

[hognutz]

those numbers are not what the gear calculator I used came up with.

6200rpm redline 3:73 rear gear 305/35-20 rear tire tr-6060
1st 2.66 53mph
2nd 1.78 79mph
3rd 1.30 108
4th 1.00 140mph
5th .8 176mph
6th .63 223mph (drag limited)

6200rpm redline 3:23 rear gear 305/35-20 rear tire 6L90E
1st 4.03 40mph
2nd 2.36 69mph
3rd 1.53 106mph
4th 1.15 141mph
5th .85 191mph
6th .67 242mph (drag limited)

[MrDew]

Originally Posted by hognutz

those numbers are not what the gear calculator I used came up with.

6200rpm redline 3:73 rear gear 305/35-20 rear tire tr-6060
1st 2.66 53mph
2nd 1.78 79mph
3rd 1.30 108
4th 1.00 140mph
5th .8 176mph
6th .63 223mph (drag limited)

Hm, not sure... i took the circumference of a tire calculator... When doing the math myself i come up your exact values! Wonder whether they know better how tall the tire is?

i would have thought that the automatic could run all the way into the limiter at 191... that's strange.

[hognutz]

Originally Posted by Deki

lol I'd be scared to do 155 in my Mustang, let alone 200. It really doesn't look like they did a whole lot of aerodynamic enhancements to the car when you compare it to other vehicles capable of 200+ mph. Don't get me wrong, it's exciting to have any pony car hit those speeds, but I really question how stable it will be. I hope Ford doesn't eat their words and come out with a production GT500 that doesn't hit that speed. They kinda set the bar for themselves with the 650/600/200 announcement.

yeah my gt was less stable at 150mph than my Z06 was at 185 (fastest I have had the Car). granted a stock GT has a crappy aero package.

I mean the new gt500 sits high but as long as they channel the air into downforce who knows. I will be interested to see if the car will do 200 confidently like a ZR1. If it does hats off to them that is awesome. For some reason when the anounced the top speed that wreck rusty wallace had where his car was airborn popped into my head haha.

The supercars exposed episode with the 1000hp cobra it did 190 in the standing mile and tanner did not seem to freaked out. They did not try to take it up to top speed though.

[chain777]

Who's ever going to drive at those speeds, even on a track? If ever there was a pointless measure of performance, especially for a street car, it's top speed. You'll likely never even experience those speeds, and if you do, it's only for moments.

Where you spend most of your time driving; accelerating from stops, merging onto freeways, running down windy country roads, and the occasional trip to the dragstrip or local auto club/track is what's going to matter. Top speed is strictly for bragging rights.

If I ever get the chance to experience 200+mph speeds, I don't think I'd want to do in a Mustang or a Camaro. I'd want it to be in something that was engineered and designed to do it in the first place. For me it would probably be something Italian.

[Wondering]

Just remember the closer you get to 200mph,the more the laws of diminishing returns comes into effect. So I wouldn't expect much,if any,gains in top speed from simple mods.

For example,the C6 Z06 has 505hp & has a top speed of 198mph. To pick up an additional 7mph (205mph) requires an additional 133hp in the ZR1.

[MrDew]

Originally Posted by Wondering

Just remember the closer you get to 200mph,the more the laws of diminishing returns comes into effect. So I wouldn't expect much,if any,gains in top speed from simple mods.

For example,the C6 Z06 has 505hp & has a top speed of 198mph. To pick up an additional 7mph (205mph) requires an additional 133hp in the ZR1.

Keep in mind that the gearing for the two is different!
The zr1 might make more than 7 miles with the same gears...

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by Scarrzz

I love my ZL1, love before first sight.

If you consider the aerodynamic achievements of this car...it's not surprising to me that it's not reaching a higher top speed with this amount of hp on tap.

It's designed to STICK...not to optimize a top speed that you'll likely never reach (It didn't even get there on the Nurburgring, for heaven's sakes...)

[hognutz]

The ZR1 is RPM limited top speed. 205mph 5th gear at 6600rpm redline.

Z06 is a drag limited car. this is why some say they have had there Z06 at 200. I think at readline in 5th a Z06 would be at 229 but does not have enough torque to get there.

Untill people get there hands on one of these we won't know. none of the numbers I came up with supported 180mph unless it will pull 6th gear a bit but not much.

I think setting a car up to pull 5th or 6th depending on rear gear to redline is the smartest way to hit top speed.

You get my Z06 up above 170 and it start to take a wile to gain speed but the gear is too tall for the torque curve. if it had a .83 5th I wonder if it would not match the 205mph ZR1 just take longer to do it.

[Buelligun]

Originally Posted by IOMZL1

Yes. Consider ‘stable’ or ‘usable’ top speed vs. ‘theoretical’ or ‘ideal’ top speed. You may be able to go 200 in another car but a gust of wind will cause you to crash vs. you can go 184 in the ZL1 and feel more planted and secure. This is why they have wings on IndyCars – sure, they slow the cars down in theory but in reality the cars can take the turns faster for it and are more stable on the straights. I’ll probably never see 184 but it is good to know however fast I do go I’ll feel ‘stuck’. I’d take this over a slightly higher top speed 'statistic' any day.

That is a perfect statement

Apparently the 2SS is very very stable at the limited 155mph even on a rough old road, (I say apparently-obviously I never drove at that sort of speed-my mate told me!!) the fact that the ZL1 is even better in the stability department, I think it will feel unbelievably planted at 185

[Wondering]

Originally Posted by MrDew

Keep in mind that the gearing for the two is different!
The zr1 might make more than 7 miles with the same gears...

Ahhhh...true,true. Too much turkey must have made me sleepy & forgetful.


Anyways,here's a simple(lol) formula I found for finding out how much additional HP a car need to reach the desired mph:

All this means that to find out how much horsepower it takes to overcome air resistance at any speed, we need to multiply the force of air resistance by speed (in feet per second, converted from miles per hour), and divide by 550, to convert foot-lb/sec to horsepower. The formula is

[Buelligun]

Would you not need to know the drag of each car for that to work?

[Scarrzz]

Originally Posted by Wondering

The formula is

Oh, obviously.



Just messin' with Ya man, thanks for the equation. I'll do my homework tomorrow.

I believe that equation was done for the Corvette 's coefficient of drag, so our beefy ZL1 will be a bit different. To make it easy we need a table for the combined drag from aerodynamic, driveline, and rolling (tires on road) friction from zero to 220 mph or thereabouts. Just looking at it, it should be a hyperbolic function, but not a simple one.

That was an outstanding series out of Stuttgart. Here is a linky if anyone wants to read more about the physics behind our passion.

http://autopedia.com/stuttgart-west/StuttPhysics.html

[htron50]

^ ^ ^ I COULDA TOL YA THAT!! good conversation though!